It was a great experience to visit the butterfly exhibit at the Jackson County Fair! Not only did I get to see Monarch and Painted Lady butterflies all over the place, I also got to see rows of their chrysalis! These were glued into cardboard boxes for the exhibit with the hope that the butterflies would emerge when someone was watching. Well, I'm happy to say that *I* was one of those lucky someones!! I'll be posting a picture series tomorrow which will show the entire process!!

This chrysalis appears to have gold droplets painted onto it, but that's actually how they really look! I did some research and discovered that these metallic-looking dots are quite a mystery to researchers. All species in the Monarch family have metallic dots on their chrysallis and it's thought that they may aid in camouflage, or appear as water droplets to confuse predators. I think they are beautiful!

A Monarch butterfly egg hatches into a caterpillar after about 4 days. The caterpillar eats everything it can for about two weeks before the pupa stage. It finds a suitable place under a leaf, spins a silk pad to hang from, and then molts, leaving itself encased in an articulated green exoskeleton, which you can see in the picture above! The pupa stage lasts about two weeks while the amazing transformation from caterpillar to butterfly occurs inside.

Tomorrow I'll post Part 2 of Butterfly Metamporphosis with a long series of pictures!!)

To read a few fun questions and answers about these butterflies, The Monarch Butterfly website has a really interesting page here! The Monarch Butterfly Expert: Q&A